Fading fast: B's sloppy in loss to Flyers

The Bruins could have taken a big step towards securing the Northeast Division, but a rough second period in Philadelphia led to a 5-2 loss to the Flyers at Wells Fargo Center Tuesday night.

With the Canadiens having lost to the Devils in regulation, the B’s could have taken a two-point lead over the Habs in the division with one game in hand. With the Bruins losing, both teams remain at 59 points on the season. The Canadiens have two more games left, while the B’s have three.

Scott Hartnell got the Flyers on the board 1:40 into the game, and though Wade Redden scored his first goal as a Bruin to tie the game and the B’s appeared to be in control, the second period was a mess. Matt Read scored a sensational goal in which he batted a rebound past Anton Khudobin in mid-air, with a miscue from Zdeno Chara and Khudobin leading to another Flyers goal just seven seconds later.

Khudobin was pulled after the goal (credited to Oliver Lauridsen), but Jakub Voracek made it 4-1 by scoring a breakaway goal on Tuukka Rask at 5:33 of the third period. The B’s got a goal back when David Krejci did all the work himself for his 10th goal of the season, but Simon Gagne made it 5-2 just 13 seconds later.

With the game seemingly out of reach in the third, Khudobin returned to the game with less than eight minutes to go.

The Bruins will return home to face the Lightning Thursday night at TD Garden before concluding the regular season with games against the Capitals and Senators this weekend.

WHAT WENT WRONG FOR THE BRUINS

- The Flyers’ first three goals came on big mistakes from the Bruins. Hartnell scored off a giveaway from Krejci, while Read’s goal came as a result of a giveaway from Brad Marchand. With the puck in the Bruins’ zone, Marchand’s pass to Tyler Seguin was intercepted by Wayne Simmonds, who fired a shot on net to lead to the rebound on which Read scored.

The worst of the bunch was the Lauridsen goal, as Khudobin saw the puck as it was coming towards the net. He tried to play it and failed, making for a rather embarrassing goal that got him yanked from the game.

- Speaking of Khudobin, that performance probably didn’t help his case to potentially get a game here or there in the playoffs. Claude Julien has played only one goalie in each of his first five postseasons with the Bruins, and Khudobin did nothing to change that Tuesday night.

- It isn’t often that Patrice Bergeron struggles at the faceoff dot, so it’s worth noting when he does. Bergeron won only two of his seven draws in the first period Tuesday. Bergeron dug himself out of the hole and finished the game 9-for-18 on draws.

WHAT WENT RIGHT FOR THE BRUINS

- Julien is certainly holding his players accountable. After Marchand’s giveaway that led to the Flyers’ second goal (Seguin was also out there for the tally), neither Marchand nor Seguin saw the ice for the rest of the period, a span of over eight and a half minutes.

Julien then broke up the Marchand-Bergeron-Seguin line, putting Seguin with Milan Lucic and Krejci, while Jaromir Jagr jumped on with Marchand and Bergeron.

- Though the Krejci line was on the ice for Voracek’s goal, the center at least broke a season-worst five-game pointless streak. With the exception of that recent stretch, Krejci has had his most consistent season in years, and the Bruins will definitely need a big postseason performance out of him given their offensive issues.

- Carl Soderberg got his second assist in as many games, as he got the secondary apple on Redden’s first period goal. Jagr had the primary helper, as he fired the shot on net that led to the rebound on which Redden cashed in out in front. In 10 games with the B’s, Jagr has two goals and seven assists for nine points.